Non-skid walkway surfaces are commonly fabricated into large fiberglass or other structural fabric products having a substantially horizontal surface on which people are expected to walk. For example, covers for river or ocean barges commonly have walkway surfaces extending both laterally and longitudinally. Similarly, railway hopper cars having fiberglass covers often have walkway surfaces extending longitudinally along the cover. Such surfaces commonly have the texture of sand and are fabricated in substantially the following way. Sand is laid on the pattern part at the location and in the pattern required to create the non-skid surface desired for the final piece part. Gel coat, a substance commonly known, is rolled in and around the sand. Layers of fiberglass or other structural fabric and appropriate polyester resin are applied on the pattern part to create the desired structure for the mold part. After a curing time, the mold part is pulled from the pattern part and the sand is brushed or buffed away. The result is a mold part having cavities in the shape of small sand pebbles in the pattern previously applied on the pattern part.
A piece part for final use is fabricated from the mold part using similar commonly known techniques. First gel coat is applied to the mold. Then, chopped fiberglass or other structural chopped material and resin is rolled into the sand-created cavities. Finally, structural fabric and resin are laid as desired.
The problem with this known non-skid surface is that the sand pebbles often create cavities in the mold which have vertical and even concave sides. Hence, when the final piece part is pulled from the mold part, the piece part does not separate clearly or sometimes even rips away a portion of the mold part. Often only a few piece parts can be pulled from a mold part without repairing or maintaining in some way the mold part.
The present invention addresses and solves this and similar problems.